Easter weekend weather: Thunderstorms and hail likely to hit four provinces

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has warned some of the country’s provinces to expect a wet Easter weekend.

Wednesday and Thursday weather

Apart from localised rainfall, heavy at times, persisting on Wednesday over parts of Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, much of South Africa can expect a sunny, dry day, with daytime temperatures continuing to recover, following the spell of cloudy, cold and wet weather earlier in the week.

Thursday will see an upper trough starting to develop over the south-western sector of South Africa, expected to promote isolated light showers and thundershowers over the Cape provinces.

The remainder of the country is expected to remain dry, although the Lowveld of South Africa and Eswatini may see a few showers or thundershowers, said the weather service.

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Weekend weather for Friday through to Monday

On Good Friday, the upper trough is expected to intensify further, resulting in the development of an extensive band of isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers over much of the central interior.

As a result, the weather service has warned that the North West, Free State, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal will likely experience the return of thunderstorms, along with the risk of localised flooding and/or occurrences of hail and strong and damaging winds.

Saturday will see scattered to widespread showers and thundershowers persisting over the central provinces, spreading to include the eastern and north-eastern provinces, where further significant to heavy falls may occur at places, especially over North West, Free State and Gauteng.

Sunday and Monday will see rainfall persisting over the central and eastern parts of the country.

“The South African Weather Service acknowledges the unconventional naming of the low pressure that has caused devastation over KwaZulu-Natal earlier this week, however this low pressure is not expected to cause any further impacts over the country as it is forecasted to move away from South Africa,” said the weather service.